Naomi Beckwith, deputy director and chief curator of the Guggenheim Museum, has announced her four-person artistic team for Documenta 16, set to open in Kassel, Germany, in June 2027. The team includes Carla Acevedo-Yates, Romi Crawford, Mayra A. Rodríguez Castro, and Xiaoyu Weng, who will collaborate on the exhibition, publication, and programming for the quinquennial.
This marks the first all-female artistic team to lead Documenta since its founding in 1955, and Beckwith is the first Black woman to helm an edition, as well as the second American-born artistic director. The announcement follows a turbulent selection process after the heavily criticized 2022 edition, during which the entire selection committee resigned amid the Israel-Gaza war, forcing a restart. Beckwith's appointment is seen as a fresh start for the institution.